Woman UP!: Promoting Saudi Women Rights to Counter Violent Extremism

August 12, 2015 Washington DC – – The Institute for Gulf Affairs has released a special report titled – WOMAN UP! Promoting Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia to Counter Violent Extremism – on the need to adopt a written and clear U.S policy on women rights in Saudi Arabia as a critical measure in fighting and defeating violent extremism in the Middle East and around the world.

The report authored by the Institute policy analyst Alexandra Cantone and edited by Ali AlAhmed is the first part of the Institute’s series on countering violent extremism highlights an important area of policy that can enhance U.S. ability to decisively eradicate violent extremism with the use of soft power and without reliance on military power.

Currently, the U.S. has no official and written policy on supporting women rights in Saudi Arabia, a country that leads the world in depriving women from basic human rights and the prevalence of support for terror organizations such as ISIS and AlQaeda. Thousands of Saudi men are currently fighting for ISIS and AlQaeda and other terror groups.

The paper provides effective solutions that maybe implemented by the relevant U.S government agencies to successfully counter violent extremism.